/*
 -- use buildDottedTable([],"", json);
 -- understands nesting of dictionaries and arrays for indexing
 -- ex: d = { a : 1, b : [ { c: 2 }, { d: 3} ], e: { f: "string" } }
 -- buildDottedTable([],"",d);
 [ { key: 'a', val: 1 },
 { key: 'b.0.c', val: 2 },
 { key: 'b.1.d', val: 3 },
 { key: 'e.f', val: 'string' } ]
 */
function buildDottedTable(data, prefix, item) {
    // -- recurse to build nested tree of dotted notation strings from JSON dictionaries
    for (var key in item) {
        if (item.hasOwnProperty(key)) {
            // -- if the subkeys are Arrays (but not Strings) then iterate over the list
            if (typeof(item[key]) == 'object' && item[key] != null && item[key].length > 0 && !(item[key][0].constructor === String)) {
                var tprefix = prefix + key + ".";
                for (var keys in item[key]) {
                    data = buildDottedTable(data, tprefix + keys + ".", item[key][keys]);
                }
            } else if (typeof(item[key]) == 'object' && item[key] != null ) {
                // -- if the subkeys are dicts, then descend
                var tprefix = prefix + key + ".";
                data = buildDottedTable(data, tprefix, item[key]);
            } else {
                // -- leaf node, not a nested object
                data.push({key: prefix + key, val: item[key]});
            }
        }
    }
    return data;
}